Follow You Into the Dark
by blackwidow73
Summary: Set in late season four, Mary and Burt are fighting as he grows in popularity and she begins drinking. One thing leads to another and Burt ultimately has to choose between the welfare of his wife and his image as Sheriff.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I know that this chapter is very short. It's basically a test chapter to see if anyone's going to read. If I receive any indication that there's people interested in seeing more posted, I'll go ahead and keep updating.

Chapter 1: Confession

The words slipped so easily from her lips, the confession that she had been dying to make to him for the past year. Until a few months ago it had been guilt that had been pressing her to say something, now in the heat of the argument it was anger that finally pushed the spiteful phrase from her mouth.

" _He's not even your son!"_

A stunned silence lingered in the air between the two, him not even sure if he could believe the news and she regretting that she had said anything. Either way, they stood there on opposite sides of the couch in the dimly lit living room. She had just stumbled in from her night of driving around town.

Only a few hours earlier she had fallen down the stairs and embarrassed Burt. All she had hoped for upon her return was to be able to slip into bed and pretend none of this happened.

Burt stood there, still in his suit. As much as he had been upset with Mary, the announcement broke his heart. He fidgeted for a second, shifting his weight between each leg as he went from crossing his arms to placing his hands on his hips to covering his mouth with one hand.

"What uh, wh-what is it that you're trying to say here, Mary?" He asked.

Mary remained rigid, her lips pursed as she glared to him. She might not have liked how he found out, and she might have even felt a tiny bit bad about the whole thing. No matter what, she had still been shoved aside for the sake of good publicity. After everything she had done for him, after all that time that she had stood beside him, he swept her aside as if she were nothing. That would always hurt.

"You know exactly what I said," she venomously spat. "I thought he was you at the time. You know that."

He couldn't be mad at her for that. He wanted to, he wanted to ask her how she could do that to him. She didn't know any better at the time. It was just so much to take in all at once. The only baby that they would have together and it wasn't even his, it was the consequence of his getting taken away from her.

There was a small chance that she was making up all of this just to upset him. And he was pretty sure that he could smell the liquor on her.

"I'm not going to discuss this with you right now," he stated as he started towards the stairs. "You've been drinking. This is something that we need to talk about when you're sober."

Mary hurried and stood at the bottom of the stairs, her motion stopping Burt as he was halfway to the second floor.

"You'd better not wait too long. It'd be a real shame if somehow the press found out and you didn't have prepared answers to give them," she remarked.

"Are you blackmailing me?" He inquired, disgusted at her.

"I'm just trying to figure out whether it's your family or your reputation that you care about more. And I think I've gotten my answer," she sourly told him.

Burt stood there, stumbling to find something to say as she stormed passed him up the stairs. "Mary!" He called as he completely turned around, his eyes glued to her.

"I'm going to bed. I suggest you sleep on the couch facing the doorway. That way you'll be able to see if one of us is about to leave the house and embarrass you," she retorted.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Done

Burt sat in the kitchen, eating the small breakfast that he had made for himself. He wasn't hungry, but he knew that he had to eat something. Besides, it gave him something to do while he waited for Mary to wake up and join him.

As much as he thought that maybe he did owe her an apology, he wasn't sure what to say. If she continued acting like this, she would ruin everything that he had worked for. This was his job now. The construction business was gone. If he lost this, they would be left without any income.

There was also the fact that this was the first time that he had ever felt so important. He was needed, and people actually appreciated him. The city was grateful towards him, he was a hero. And honestly, he thought it was a little selfish of Mary to want to take that away from him.

"Oh look, John Wayne's up," Bob said as Chuck entered the kitchen.

Burt sighed, keeping his eyes down to the bowl of cereal. "Not now. I didn't have a good night."

"I know. Everyone heard. I guess if you're not able to sleep you think you oughta make everyone else suffer too," Bob retorted.

Chuck looked down to Bob with concern. "Bob, that was a real serious fight last night. You should be more considerate."

Burt dropped his spoon and looked over to his son, somewhat offended. "Hey, uh, what do you mean by that?"

"By what?" Chuck questioned.

"By that comment you made about it being real serious," he answered. "Exactly how was it serious?"

The last thing that he needed was to sit here and hear about how him and Mary were fighting and that things were taking a turn for the worst. He didn't want to hear about much trouble they were in and how they were falling apart. As much as he would deny it, part of him knew it was true, that things were getting bad. All anyone had to do was look at Mary and they would see how bad things were getting in this house.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but usually both people sleep in the bed together, not one person on the couch and the other in the bed," Bob explained.

"We had a fight, that happens sometimes when you're married," Burt stated, sitting back in his chair and staring to the dummy.

"Well it is hard to fight when you're at work," Bob remarked.

Burt was about to get up and choke the dummy, but Mary walked into the room. Along with her was a tenseness that was almost palpable. He could see immediately that she was still upset, and in a way he couldn't blame her.

"Oh look, it's time for round two," Bob announced.

Chuck kept looking between the two as he leaned into Bob. "Bob? I think we oughta let have a minute to talk," he suggested.

"But these two are finally getting interesting," Bob argued.

"We're leaving Bob," Chuck stated as he got up and left the kitchen.

The duo passed Mary, who stood there in the doorway. Her arms were crossed as she coldly looked to him. All she wanted to do was ask him what she had done to deserve this. She wanted to know why it was that he had to go out and impress everyone else while she was nothing but a prop to him.

"Morning," she icily greeted, simply to break the silence.

Burt watched as his wife went over to the counter to fix herself a cup of coffee. All he wanted to do was start talking, but he wasn't sure where to even start.

"How're you feeling?" He awkwardly inquired.

Mary stood there, her back to him as she shrugged. "Fine," she casually answered.

She did want to talk to him, just not right now. Not while the wound was still fresh. Not while his ego was still inflated and he had become a man other than the one that she had married. She wanted to talk to the Burt that she knew a few months ago.

"Oh good, I thought you were still mad," he sarcastically stated.

It wasn't his best move, but he was frustrated and if she was able to stand there and show it, he should be able to do the same.

"You threw me under the bus!" Mary snapped, wheeling around to face him. "You thought I was drunk so you pulled me aside to hide me and then didn't even come out to try and talk to me. There are pictures in the newspaper of you from last night. You look as though you were enjoying yourself while I was out there driving around for hours just trying to get over the fact that my husband cares more about what the public thinks than his own wife."

He stood up from his seat and took a couple steps closer to her. Even if what she was saying was true, he did not like being accused of being the one at fault here.

"I threw you under the bus?" Burt questioned as he harshly motioned himself. "You were the one who told me that my son might not even be mine."

"You know damn well that I never meant to cheat on you!" She defensively argued.

She paused, standing there with her arms limp at her sides. Part of her wasn't even sure why she was fighting anymore. It was clear to her that he didn't care, that his image was more important than anything else.

"I never pushed you aside. How dare you try to put this all on me when I've done nothing but stand by your side," she wearily explained.

Burt scoffed at her, looking to her as if she was insane. "If I recall right, you're the one who decided to make her big drunken debut in front of the mayor last night. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not what standing by someone's side is. If anything, it's ruining their career," he remarked.

Cold, distant eyes just stared to him. At one time, not so long ago, she would look to him with warmth and passion. Now she could barely even be in the same room with him.

"I'm done," she dryly stated before heading out of the room.

Burt stood there a second, dumbfounded as he watched her pass him on her way back towards the living room.

"Done?" He asked as he finally began to follow her. "What do you mean done? What are you done with?"

Mary stopped at the couch, turning to him. "I'm done Burt," she firmly stated, eyes beginning to water from the pent up frustration. "I'm done worrying about you every time you go out and then wishing you would leave every time you come home. Living with you for the past couple of months has been the most stressful thing I have ever done. I love you, yet I can't stand you. I feel almost like I'm living alone."

Burt took a few slow steps forward as he watched her head up the stairs.. "So what? You're just gonna leave?"

"What choice do I have?" She questioned as she reached the hallway.

Burt began to follow her into their room where he saw her throwing things into a suitcase. It was an image that had struck more fear in him than he had felt in a long while.

"You can't just leave! Mare, what about the kids? What about Scotty?" He asked, desperately grasping at reasons to try and change her mind.

As much as he wanted to go over to her, try and hold onto her or take her luggage away from her, he couldn't. It wouldn't work and he knew it. It would only make things worse between them, and that was not something that they could afford.

"I can't?" She asked as she closed the suitcase. Smugly smiling, she pick up the suitcase and left the room.

He wheeled around and followed her into the nursery. "No Mary! You can't!" He practically begged her.

She scooped her son into her arms, shifting him over so that she had a free hand to carry her suitcase.

"Watch me," she told him, passing him on the way out.

"Mary, wait!" Burt called out, keeping up with her as they went down the stairs.

He only stopped once she left the house, not even bothering to close the door behind her. She left him to stand there in the doorway, watching her as she drove off with what he thought was his child.

Sighing, he shut the door. The love of his life had just left him, walked out the door as if it were nothing. This wasn't the first time that this had happened, but it felt so much more final. He had said everything that he could think to say, and things just weren't going well between them.

He plopped down onto the couch, covering his face with his hands. He wasn't all too sure of what he wanted to do now. He wasn't even sure if there was anything that he could do to help the situation. It all just felt hopeless.


End file.
